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To: kingu
One of the ironies of longer range is, the charging time gets longer. If I had the money, I'd get the Tesla Model 3 with the package that has unlimited supercharging, because there's a supercharger at 28th St and I-96 (in Kentwood, just east of Grand Rapids) which is only a ten or twelve mile round trip from my workplace (and I have to drive home anyway), meaning I'd have what I consider an expensive vehicle but no or very little "fuel" bill for it, and do my weekly shopping right across the parking lot, at Meijer.

Mercedes has a hydrogen vehicle coming (two 4-liter carbon fiber tanks; 50 mile battery backup) and the fillup time is similar to gasoline (2 to 4 minutes) -- but there's no infrastructure for the hydrogen. Obviously, if the water "exhaust" were stored and traded in at the filling stations, since DC power is ideal for electrolysis, all the hydrogen could be made in situ without a big electric bill for the vendor. If the filling process is really simple, and the risk of death and dismemberment nil, I could see how hydrogen vehicles could prevail for any kind of distance driving.

EVs are ideally suited for most driving (being within 25 miles of home), and there's little barrier to just keeping the "tank" topped off with household electrical power. But having to budget 30-40 minutes (or more) every few hours during a trip is not going to fly, IMHO.

But I agree, these trucks look great, and typically a pickup is a work vehicle for people who are home at night (again, 25 miles from home), and SUVs are soccer-mom vehicles.

8 posted on 01/11/2019 2:58:30 AM PST by SunkenCiv (and btw -- https://www.gofundme.com/for-rotator-cuff-repair-surgery)
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To: SunkenCiv
"Obviously, if the water "exhaust" were stored and traded in at the filling stations, since DC power is ideal for electrolysis, all the hydrogen could be made in situ without a big electric bill for the vendor. If the filling process is really simple, and the risk of death and dismemberment nil, I could see how hydrogen vehicles could prevail for any kind of distance driving."

I don't understand the value of saving the water. Distilled water is dirt cheap. I just bought a gallon of it at Walmart for a buck, retail price, in its own jug. The actual cost of the water had to be close to zero. To collect it in a hydrogen vehicle would require condensing it, saving it, and storing it in volume in the vehicle. None of that is cheap.

The biggest disadvantage of hydrogen powered vehicles is creating, storing, and dispensing the hydrogen. It does not liquify at anything but cryogenic temperatures. Even at 10,000 psi storage pressure, hydrogen requires 7 times the volume as the equivalent energy in gasoline, and that does not include the volume of the tank. My 3,000 psi storage tank for oxygen (for a torch set) weighs close to 100 lbs., and has less than a gallon of volume. It would take more than 567 of these to store the same amount of hydrogen energy as the gas tank on my pickup truck.

That would be 57,000 lbs. of fuel tank. Granted, the carbon fiber tanks discussed would weigh less, but the volume requirements are the same. And where do you put 189 gallons specific shaped fuel tanks in a vehicle with a 27 gallon tank fitted around frames and suspension members? And all of the plastic tanks could come unglued with a HUGE bang (think Hindenburg) in a relatively minor collision.

20 posted on 01/11/2019 5:37:01 AM PST by norwaypinesavage (Calm down and enjoy the ride, great things are happening for our country)
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To: SunkenCiv
One of the ironies of longer range is, the charging time gets longer. If I had the money, I'd get the Tesla Model 3 with the package that has unlimited supercharging..

Best hurry up and get it, Elon Musk says they're going to stop producing them soon. That's what I've read anyway.

39 posted on 01/13/2019 2:15:07 AM PST by usconservative (When The Ballot Box No Longer Counts, The Ammunition Box Does. (What's In Your Ammo Box?))
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